Discussion: [general] Comptines / Nursery rhymes

Following the popular and enjoyable fairy-tales thread, I will start everyone off on French and English nursery rhymes!

(A personal favourite)

Oh! The Grand old Duke of York
He had ten thousand men
He marched them up to the top of the hill and he marched them down again.
And when they were up, they were up
And when they were down, they were down
And when they were only half way up, they were neither up nor down.

1. Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are. [sometimes it's where you are]
Up above the world so high
Like a diamond in the sky
Twinkle, twinkle, little star
How I wonder what you are.

2. Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, Life is but a dream.

3. I went to the animal fair
The birds and the beasts were there
The big baboon by the light of the moon
was combing his auburn hair
The monkey fell out of his bunk
And slid down the elephant's trunk (wheeeee!)
The elephant sneezed and fell on his knees
But what became of the monkey, monkey, monkey, monkey, monkey, monkey monk?

Goosy goosy Gander
Where shall I wander?
Upstairs and downstairs, and in my lady's chamber
And there I met an old man
Who wouldn't say his prayers
So i bit him by the left leg
And threw him down the stairs.

Half a pound of tuppeney rice
Half a pound of treacle
That's the way the money goes
Pop goes the weasel

Up and down the City Road
In and out the Eagle
That's the way the money goes
Pop goes the weasel

Now sung as a nursery rhyme, but it started out as a drinking song. Rice and treacle was the original 'home brew' kit, and 'the Eagle' was (still is) a pub in City Road, Islington, London. This is the area where tailors used to work. A weasel is a piece of equipment used by tailors. To 'pop' used to mean to pawn an article for security to a money lender.

Does 'Je suis aime bien' make sense? It dosn't seem to, although this is what I remember, but I was very little.
Panpan

Click to expand...

I remember it too. Figure is feminine, so you should write "bonne figure".
And it's "savoir bien (les manger)" not "être bien".
(I think the end is something along those lines: "La bonne aventure ô gué, la bonne aven-tu-u-re !")

1. Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are. [sometimes it's where you are]
Up above the world so high
Like a diamond in the sky
Twinkle, twinkle, little star
How I wonder what you are.

2. Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, Life is but a dream.

3. I went to the animal fair
The birds and the beasts were there
The big baboon by the light of the moon
was combing his auburn hair
The monkey fell out of his bunk
And slid down the elephant's trunk (wheeeee!)
The elephant sneezed and fell on his knees
But what became of the monkey, monkey, monkey, monkey, monkey, monkey monk?

Click to expand...

Twinkle, Twinkle little bat
How I wonder what you're at
Up above the world you fly
Like a tea-tray in the sky.

The original is a poem by Jane Taylor, The Star (1806) and it has four more verses. The other is, of course, the Mad Hatter's, which he started to sing at "the great concert given by the Queen of Hearts" but she screamed he was "murdering the time" (killing it not being sufficient ) and she declared (as usual) "Off with his head."

The usual tune is known in French as: "Ah, vous dirai-je, Maman?"
Mozart wrote a quite delightful set of variations on it.
Here is one set of words:

And the version of "The Animal Fair" I know has:
The monkey! He got drunk
(Alternative: The funniest was the monk, Who sat)
And SAT on the Elephant's trunk.
The Elephant sneezed etc.

Which makes more sense, since the monkey was sitting, probably, on the end of his trunk and the sneeze blew him to Kingdom Come! The author of this one is unknown. It has a charming tune as well.

And "Row, row, row" is a song meant to be sung as a round (a four part canon).

Adding some others which also have tunes:

1. Round and round the mulberry bush (the cobbler's bench)
The monkey chased the weasel.
The monkey thought 'twas all in fun.
Pop! goes the weasel.

A penny for a spool of thread,
A penny for a needle,
That's the way to money goes.
Pop! goes the weasel.

2. Jack and Jill went up the hill
To fetch a pail of water.
Jack fell down
And broke his crown,
And Jill came
Tumbling after.

3. Three blind mice!
Three blind mice!
See how they run!
She how they run!
They all ran up to the farmer's wife.
She cut off their tails with a carving knife.
Have you ever seen such a sight in your life,
As three blind mice!